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Owatonna Man Gets 25 Years For Making Child Porn

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – An Owatonna man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday for producing pornography with a boy and girl whom he coerced into service.

Judge Ann D. Montgomery sentenced 46-year-old Michael Sherman to 300 months in federal prison on one count of production of child porn, the Department of Justice said.

Sherman will likely serve the entire sentence behind bars, because the federal system does not have parole. When released, he will spend the rest of his life under supervision, the department said.

“These cases involve our most vulnerable victims, young children. Because of the nature of the crime, they are victimized not only when coerced into performing pornographic acts for the camera, but each time those images are shared with someone else,” said U.S. attorney B. Todd Jones.

Sherman pleaded guilty to the charge on Jan. 27. In a plea agreement, he admitted to coercing a boy and a girl into engaging in sex acts for the purpose of recording them. Sherman said this activity went on between September and December of 2010.

Authorities found the images Sherman made while executing a search warrant in January of 2011. They also found images and videos of the victims on Sherman’s cell phone, the department said.